Android N Dev Preview 4 is out

The 4th version of Google’s very successful Android N Dev Preview has been released, and is rolling out via OTA or you can flash your device manually. Along with the new version, the Android team have announced that all of the API’s for Android N are now final and available in the Android SDK.

If you haven’t registered for the Dev program and you want to receive the OTA update, android.com/beta is the place to go. If you are already enrolled in the Dev program and you just can’t wait for the OTA to roll out to you then perhaps this is what you need.

As with previous Android N dev previews if you want to test the build you will need one of these devices, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C, General Mobile 4G (Android One), as well as Sony Xperia Z3 (D6603 and D6653 models).

So what’s new? The release notes don’t call out any new ‘features’, in fact, they have deprecated the app launcher shortcuts for now, but they did herald some good news for developers, and by extension consumers. Along with finalising the APIs for Android N, developers can now publish the apps they’ve developed against the new API levels to the alpha and beta channels in Google Play.

This should mean the users on the N dev preview, in the alpha and beta channel for apps may begin to see full Android N target apps start to roll out.

The Android development preview program has been nothing short of a great success this year. Hopefully, this means that come to the full release later in the US Fall (our Spring) we should see better stability in the full release along with more compatible apps.

Have you tried the Dev preview? Let us know you thoughts (again) below.

Duncan Jaffrey Journalist

Duncan has been interested in technology since coding "Mary had a little Lamb" in Basic on his ZX Spectrum. A fan of all things Android, most days you'll find Duncan trawling the web for Android news or quietly editing away on Map Maker.